for a box of checkerboard cookies
by CappuccinoMocha
Summary: For #NESummerFest2019. Believe it or not, checkerboard cookies are the reason why these certain 'best friends' are hanging out in the shopping mall until late evening. Mentions of Vincent, Yuugo and Dina. Manga spoilers(?) (Also posted on AO3)


**# NESummerFest2019**

**Week 2 Option A : Casual Date (Day)**

**Notes: Modern setting AU, Aged-up ('cause I can't let an 11-13 year-old boy to drive a car, yeah?), mentions of Ray and rayanna, YuugoxDina, hidden references and me attempting to break the fourth wall.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

It all began with a phone call during an early summer night.

The ringtone was faintly heard throughout the halls of the mansion and a tall dark-skinned man picked it up on the coffee table in the living room. He calmly walked towards the main office where his master could most probably be there.

"Boss, you have a call." The man guessed it right as he handed the smartphone to a certain white-haired younger man who was currently searching for any mistakes in his documents.

"Thank you, Vincent." His stoic voice replied to his servant. He didn't bother to check the person's ID before picking up the phone.

He cleared his throat, formally introducing himself to the caller. "William Minerva speaking." And as predicted, his tone was serious.

However, he didn't expect that a familiarly sweet voice was at the end of the phone call. "Hello? Norman, is that you?" He heard the voice of a girl whom he adored so much.

"E-EMMA!?" and there goes his coolness. The girl named Emma, his childhood friend and his (admittedly) first love was one of his Achilles's heel and she always somehow managed to get to his soft side. To let her hear him speaking coldly to her humiliated him, quite badly I should say.

The girl chuckled at her friend's sudden shout. "Yup, that's me! Don't tell me you didn't look at the caller ID before picking it up?"

"I don't, sorry..." Minerva, also better known as Norman admitted shyly.

"Nah, it's okay. I want to ask you a favour, but before that, am I calling you at the right time?"

"Oh, yes! I'm all clear now!" He purposely pushed the documents away from his sight so that he looked more comfortable speaking with Emma without work in the way.

"But sir-"

"Hush, Vincent!"

Silence ensued for a second. "Right. Well, I was wondering if you're free tomorrow evening?"

"Tomorrow evening..." The platinum-haired man checked his schedule and then sent a look at his servant for any more information. When Vincent shook his head no, Norman replied, "I don't think I have anything to do tomorrow. Why?"

"Please go out with me."

Norman fistpumped at the air. He barely made any bold moves on Emma yet she already took the first step (sort of) to a more romantic relationship! Thank all the Gods for easing his love life.

"Oh wait, let me change that." Those words from Emma were a bummer. But he kept listening to her. "I mean, can you_accompany_me to go shopping tomorrow?"

"Shopping? With me?" He was a bit surprised. It's not that he had zero experience with grocery shopping. In fact, he had done chores like that since he was a kid when he used to live in the orphanage with Emma, Ray and the others before the Ratri family adopted him. He was not accustomed to it anymore because his underlings were doing the job instead, besides Ray would be much more experienced than him when it comes to shopping.

So why did Emma suddenly invite him, of all people, to go shopping with her?

"It's a long story," she sighed, as if reading Norman's mind. "I just want to go to the grocery store when my bike broke down. So I had Ray to fix it for me."

"And then, you know that the nearest shop from here is like, miles away for me to go by foot. That would be too exhausting for me." Norman doubted that, he knew more than anyone that Emma was one of the most athletic beings he had ever met. A couple of miles wouldn't be a problem for her, probably. She could even beat both him and Ray when it comes to stamina and strength.

Yet he was silent as he was keen on listening to her excuses, he dared saying it. "Plus, the weather's scorching hot right now. Global warming is no joke." Well, that was kind of acceptable.

"And...?" He asked.

"And, since you have a car and all... And you can drive, can you please pick me up at my house and go shopping together?"

Norman didn't say anything. "Or is it too selfish of me?"

"Oh no, of course not!" He quickly interjected. Norman could list down hundreds of adjectives for Emma, but selfish is definitely not one of her charms.

"Really?"

"Really!" He exclaimed, then he tried to recollect his cool again as he added,

"So, it's a date?"

That last word Norman uttered was like an echo as Vincent's glasses cracked in literal shock. Emma was too speechless to even come up with a comeback. That was totally unexpected.

"...No wait-" After Norman finally caught on what he actually said, he started spewing some unintelligible language even the writer herself couldn't decipher what he's trying to say.

At last, he let out a heavy sigh and mumbled loud enough for Emma to hear, "Please ignore what I just said, I'm begging you."

Her bell-like laughter over the phone made him feel more embarrassed than ever. "Whatever you say, Norman." She couldn't stop giggling over it, then she changed the topic. "Tomorrow at 2 pm, how does that sound?"

"Sure thing." The reply made Emma cheer delightfully. "Alright then! I can't wait to see you, Norman!"

Despite the blush unfading from his face, her absolute sincerity made Norman smile softly. "I can't wait to see you too Emma." With that, he hung up the phone.

"This is no laughing matter." Poor Vincent did not even smile when his master screwed up just now. Instead of arguing with him, he tried to voice his opinion about the... Shopping date, "I can inform the maids to buy the goods for Miss Emma."

"No need." Norman was back to his cold self. "I would like you to make arrangements for me so that nothing gets in the way tomorrow."

Vincent bowed obediently. "Understood."

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

The next day, a certain shaggy black-haired man with white streaks spotted a list of shopping goods pinned onto the fridge magnet in the kitchen. He removed the magnet as he read the contents of the shopping list for a while when a shorter girl came to the kitchen just in time to snatch it from him.

"What was that for Antenna?" He was unimpressed with his adopted daughter for accidentally slapping his hand while she was taking it away from him.

"Sorry, Yuugo!" Emma childishly stuck out her tongue at him. A few months after Norman was adopted, Emma met Yuugo who used to be very hostile towards her and the kids in the orphanage when he and Dina, his wife were looking for a child to be adopted. Somehow, the couple adopted that lively ball of energy (and Carol too) and they were now living happily. Even so, they still addressed each other informally instead of Emma and Dad.

Yuugo stared at the girl in front of him who wore a mustard yellow blouse with a crystal blue necklace and denim jeans. A small part of her messy orange hair was also braided and clipped with yellow and blue hairpins. "Going somewhere?" He questioned, hinting a tone of protectiveness.

"Yup, I'm going out shopping with Norman today!"

"Norman..." Yuugo stared out for a moment to remember who was that boy again.

Emma then tugged one of her wild locks on her left and showed him the crescent moon cowlick resembling Norman's unique hair. "Cowlick brat," she said Norman's nickname. The platinum-haired boy occasionally visited Emma in his free time so he and the older man met each other a couple of times before. Norman did leave a good impression on him due to being a responsible gentleman, but that didn't stop Yuugo from giving him absurd nicknames like he did with Emma.

"Oh, Cowlick brat. Now I remember..." Yuugo finally figured it out, but his voice remained unenthusiastic because that would just mean that Emma was going to hang out with the opposite sex.

"You aren't going out on a date, are you?"

Emma playfully smacked her father's body in response. "Of course not, stop teasing me!" She laughed it off, but any sane person would've seen her actually blushing over it.

Yuugo was one too but he preferred to pretend he didn't see that. "Whatever, I kinda trust him better than Cyclops."

"Why are you so against Ray? Besides he's already dating Anna."

"Just in case." He shrugged.

"Anyway, is there anything you want me to buy for you?"

"Cookies."Yuugo immediately responded. Emma wrote down the word on the list before tucking it inside her purse. "Can I have some money?"

"No, you already have plenty."

She gave him a sullen look. "I should've asked Dina."

"Nah, I'm joking." Grinning in amusement, he brought out his wallet and handed his daughter a good amount of money. "I'll claim it to your mother later on. For now, have fun and don't get too carried away."

It was right on time that Norman's white and expensive-looking car arrived in front of their house. After the father and daughter exchanged short but affectionate hugs, Emma stepped out of the house and took her time to wear her sandals.

"Take care of Antenna for me, you brat!" Yuugo, in the meantime shouted out loud to the white-haired man in the car.

Emma rolled her eyes at Yuugo's antics and hopped in the car soon after. "Sorry about that." She apologized for her father's bizarre behaviour. She was pretty much sure that her best friend could hear him clearly from the inside of the car.

"It's okay. I understand him." Norman opened the window and flashed the older man with his signature innocent smile. "I'll protect her with my life, don't worry about it." And with that, he drove off.

Norman wasn't going to hope that Emma was swayed of such lines, so he took a glance at her staring at the shopping list. He was driving at a slow pace as he opened up the conversation, "So, are we going to the greengrocer, or the convenience store?"

"Let's go to the mall!" That was one real outburst there.

"The mall?" An excited nod. "Why?"

She paused for a moment. "I have to buy some checkerboard cookies!"

"...Checkerboard cookies."

"Checkerboard cookies." Emma confirmed.

"And because of that, we're going to the mall." She nodded dumbly.

It's not that the mall was too far. It was a considerable distance from here, though a bit further from the grocery shop Emma used to come and go. But that reasoning was weak, way too weak. He could've countered her with countless more reasons to go elsewhere.

But Norman later found himself parking his car at the mall parking lot outside.

"We have arrived!" Emma exclaimed in the car like a child as she took off her seatbelt and got out of the car to take some fresh air. Even if she was 18, her heart's age remained 5 for as long as Norman remembered.

As he exited his car after turning off the engine, Emma was mildly surprised of the way Norman dressed. He wore a dark blue collared shirt with a white t-shirt underneath it, white pants and a pair of blue and white converses to match. He also had a branded wristwatch on his right.

"I thought that you're going to wear your work clothes. You look so... Casual." Emma commented. Note that she didn't pay attention to his attire when they were in the car because she was too focused on other things instead.

Norman faked out a sob, "My fashion sense isn't dead yet."

"Good to hear that, you look great in it." She slipped off a compliment but it didn't seem to be the case as she continued skipping her way to the mall. Norman also didn't have time to be flattered for that as he caught up with his friend to enter the humongous building.

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

The shopping list consists of only food. Basically greens, protein and staple food. The only seemingly extravagant thing they needed to buy was the cookies Emma mentioned about. Checkerboard cookies, to be exact. Were those biscuits that rare that they had to go to a hypermarket for them?

Norman was ten billion percent sure that Emma was just trying to have fun here. "I found it!" The girl declared her success in finding the cookies she was searching for proudly.

Well, that was easy. How rare indeed.

Next, they went to the rice section. The white-haired man was about to help his female friend to carry one or two rice bags. But as we all know that his physical ability was incredibly low, it ended up with Emma carrying most of them to the trolley.

He did cover up his weakness later on at the fruits and vegetables section. So as the fish and meat section, thanks to his intelligence to picking the freshest ingredients in stock. Though, knowledge alone was nothing compared to actual skills like Ray had, but that would be enough for now.

It was a natural shopping experience, nostalgic even. Norman smiled at his old memories he had spent about ten years ago with Emma, Ray and the others as a family. And now, with only Emma by his side, they looked like a married couple shopping for groceries together.

He mentally slapped himself at the thought while hiding his blush. There's no way that they look like one, it's not that they were looking for baby's clothes or anything-

"Look, Norman! Don't you think this dress suits Carol perfectly?" Emma was totally not helping as she showed him a floral dress from the children's clothes section. Carol was currently seven and living with Yuugo's family, but she was still lovable like a baby and was, by some means attached to Norman as well.

His face redder than a tomato, he shoved the dress back to its place and insisted Emma to go to the counter before his imagination got any worse.

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

"We're done! Thanks for your help, Norman!"

"You're welcome. Now let's go back home." Norman said as he pushed the trolley to the exit. He didn't have any urgent matters to do for the day, but it was always better to be prepared to finish up his constantly increasing workload.

However, Emma tightly gripped the handle of the trolley to stop him from doing so. "I don't want to." She spat out.

The white-haired man was pleasurably entertained with his friend. She was as stubborn as a mule alright, but that's just one of her lovely charms. He subtly touched her hand as he tried to persuade her, "Aren't you already satisfied with what you bought? Or is there anything else you want?"

"Nothing in particular," she bluntly replied, looking at him straight in the eye. "But I don't want to go home yet."

"And why is that, my dearest Emma?" Norman asked coyly, enjoying the tender yet intense eye contact they had. He wasn't going to lose this time, not even to Emma.

He was even prepared for one of her ultimate moves, the puppy eyes. "I want to take this chance to spend more time with you. Is that wrong?"

But not for her words.

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

"One slice of Chocolate Indulgence, please. And you, Norman?" In the end, the said name lost in their little argument and was now in a cafe with the winner. His pride was hurt so much that he couldn't even spare a glance to the girl in front of him.

After he had made his order, the waitress left for a while and so the two were alone again. "Sorry about that, okay? It'll be my treat." Emma tried to comfort him.

Norman couldn't bear another form of shame, especially if he was a rich young man so he told her that he would be paying instead as punishment, in which he didn't really mind spending some money for her.

It didn't take long for their orders to arrive. Emma's was a reasonably large slice of chocolate cake which was one of the best-sellers in store. Meanwhile, Norman's was a hot regular-sized Caffe Mocha topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.

"Mocha, huh? That's kind of a sweet choice for coffee." Emma commented as she already took a few bites of her cake.

Norman took a first spoonful of cream as he answered, "Mocha is technically chocolate so it can be sweet, with a dash of espresso." Then he sipped a little bit of the drink. "It tastes just nice for me though."

He wiped off the foam on his upper lip before Emma could point it out for him. Pouting, the girl continued on eating the cake until only a half of it was left. "Want some?" She asked, referring to her cake.

"I would love to." Norman accepted the offer. It was kind of dull to just have a drink in this cafe known for its cakes, so eating some would ease him. Even so, he didn't imagine that Emma would actually feed him herself with a fork.

After he failed to budge her hand to take the fork away from her, he reluctantly bent forward and ate a piece of the cake she gave him. "It's delicious."

"I know right? I can feed you more." Norman rejected yet another offer right away. Later when his coffee was already more than halfway gone, it was his turn to share.

He slowly pushed his drink towards Emma. "Drink this, careful not to burn your tongue with it." He advised her beforehand when she took the glass to bring it closer to her mouth.

That's when he realized that they kissed indirectly,_twice_. Nonchalantly to add. He also noticed that other customers were staring at them for a while now. Most likely stares of envy which made the duo feel uncomfortable.

As if Norman was going to back down from that. Averting his attention from Emma for a moment, he gave the others a cheerful smile at first glance. Keyword;_at first glance_.Everyone consequently looked away from him and Emma the moment they figured out that Norman was mentally threatening them.

"Norman, is there something wrong?" The ginger-haired girl slightly tilted her head. Her boy friend (not boyfriend, mind you) reassured her with his usual sweet smile.

"Oh, nothing. I just got rid of**rats**,that's all." As he said that word in pure disgust, no one dared to bother them ever again until they finished eating and left the cafe.

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

Later, it was unknown to Norman why they were in the pet shop of all stores. It was Emma who was in the lead again when she held his hand and practically dragged him all the way here.

For now, they did nothing but watched the apparently high-priced black cat napping in the glass cage before their eyes. It looked like Ray in one way or another, maybe because they both looked kind of edgy.

"Do you want this?" Norman inquired, his money ready to be spent. The ginger-haired girl shot him a disapproving look, muttering about him being goddamn wealthy before she refused his proposal.

"I'm just window-shopping, these pets are too costly for me. I don't feel like keeping one anyway."

"I can buy one for you-"

"Norman, no. Save your money for later, will you?" she scolded. It was unlikely for her to get mad at Norman, but he knew that she was just trying to advise him. So he admitted his mistake this time.

Emma did say something about not wanting to keep a pet, but judging from her emerald eyes widening in amazement every time they pass through the animals displayed in the store, she did love them as much as she loved her family after all.

A while later, Norman broke the silence yet again. "Say, Emma. If you can have any animal as a pet, what would it be?"

Her answer was crystal clear. "Giraffes!" Just the thought of that tall wild creature excited her. "I wanna ride one for a long time now!"

Norman wasn't very sure whether riding a giraffe was even legal in the first place, but this was just a what-if question. No need to be serious about it. "I see, I'm sure you'll be able to ride it one day."

"What about you, Norman? What do you want to keep as a pet?"

The first animal that came to his mind was a type of bird. Although it, no,_they_ had already became his pets for a thousand of years. "Owls, I guess? They enjoy flocking all over my house so I take a liking to them."

"But you have like 27 of them."

Norman grinned. "And will definitely increase over time."

"Agreed," Emma acknowledged the fact. In the beginning, she was taken aback that the owls in Norman's home were rather tame than she had ever thought. Even an inexperienced person like her could become an owl tamer in no time. She wondered if they were specially trained to love humans.

Moving on, they continued rambling about every exotic animal they could think of until they were eventually kicked out of the store for emotionally disturbing the customers with their outrageous imagination.

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

The duo went from bookstores to arcades or simply take walks around the mall until they finally lost track of time. It was Yuugo who texted Emma to go back home (more like go back to reality) as it was already late evening.

In a hurry, they grabbed the goods from the trolley to the exit. Of course Emma carried most of them, Norman could only manage to carry vegetables to the car in order not to fall down and sprain his ankle like what happened when they were children.

He couldn't afford to injure his legs anymore, moreover when he was the one driving. After everything was settled, he started the engine and quickly drove away from the mall.

It took way less than the average time for Norman to arrive at Emma's house. "...That escalated quickly." She literally explained the whole journey back home in one sentence.

"Sorry for my reckless driving. And tell your dad I said sorry for being late." Norman apologized from the bottom of his heart. He understood very well that young women shouldn't go out for long periods of time, worse when they had men with them. He was sure he would be just as protective for his little ones when he's a father in the future.

"Don't mention it." Emma shrugged it off. "Well, staying there longer like we just did isn't that bad, or is it?"

"No, not at all." he replied honestly. Letting out some stress from work was a very good idea once in a while. He should do this with Emma and the others more often.

Norman turned on the lights of his car when the sky got darker. "I should go now," Emma gathered most of her groceries to her lap and was ready to open the door to leave. "Oh, Norman?"

"Yeah?" As soon as the said person turned his head towards her, Emma placed a quick kiss on the corner on his lips. It happened so fast that Norman had to slowly process what was going on.

He was still in la-la land when Emma already opened the door. "I had a great date today, thanks!" That's what she said as she closed the door and raced back home.

.

.

.

.

.

.

_Date?_

His brain finally registered part of just now's events. He presumed that it was nothing more than a friends' shopping spree. To think that Emma, his longtime crush actually treated this as a date...

"I FORGOT THE RICE!" Emma suddenly slammed the door of her house open as she hurried to the car boot to take the rice back with her. "I didn't forget to take anything else, right?!" She yelled in a frantic manner, she was surely scared of Norman already gone after she left at first.

Norman searched for any foodstuffs on the passenger's seat. "I think you did, come here." He instructed her to come over beside him. When Emma dropped the rice by the gate of her house for now, she entered the car and looked high and low for whatever was there.

However, there was nothing even if she searched for it in every nook and cranny. "I don't see anything," When Emma raised her head at Norman to complain, it was at that moment he responded with a short yet chaste kiss.

Though this time he did it right on the lips.

"Sorry, I lied." Norman smiled regardless of the redness on both of their faces after he broke the kiss a few seconds later.

Then he requited her affections, "But I really do appreciate today's date. Thank you, Emma." The said girl was completely dumbfounded of what just happened. Later she just nodded before she excused herself to go back home.

When they parted ways at last, they self-consciously touched their lips. It was of no doubt that they were flustered of themselves. Kissing right after their first date, how ridiculous could it be?

As for Emma, she smacked her cheeks harshly so that she could stop blushing for once. Yuugo would either laugh at her or kill Norman for this, but she hoped that the cookies she bought would cheer him up.

Better known as checkerboard cookies, which were the sole reason of them going on a date to the mall.

Emma slapped her cheeks again and went inside with rice in hand.

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

"I'm home," Emma announced again as she removed her sandals and went to the kitchen first to put down the rice. Then she walked back to the doorway to grab the other groceries she left on a hurry few moments ago.

When she made her appearance to the dining room, her family were already eating bread and salad for dinner. After telling Dina that all of the goods she bought were in the kitchen, Emma gave Carol a bar of chocolate as a treat in which the little girl gladly accepted. Yuugo on the other hand was not very happy about cookies he received.

"Why checkerboard cookies?"

Emma's shrug made him frown more as he grumbled, "You should've bought me assorted cookies."

"You can't blame me for having other stuff in mind. At least be grateful that I bought one of your favourites."

"Having other stuff in mind, huh?" He snickered. "Busy thinking about Cowlick brat or something?" Bingo; he hit just the right spot as Emma's cheeks were terribly red for, a lot of things involving Norman today.

Yuugo was completely sane to notice that, but he preferred to pretend that nothing really happened.

**_OoOoOoOoOo_**

**I tried.**

**Feel free to talk to me about TPN through Twitter (@/mujakina0825), if you're fine with a real loner that is. I barely tweet anything for now, but I probably will someday.**

**Thank you for reading! Reviews/Favourites appreciated! Until we meet again.**


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